Wildly prolific Melbourne-based JOVM mainstays King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard — Stu Mackenzie (vocals, guitar), Ambrose Kenny-Smith (harmonica, vocals, keys), Cook Craig (guitar, vocals), Joey Walker (guitar, vocals), Lucas Harwood (bass) and Michael Cavanaugh (drums) — have a long-held reputation for being restlessly creative and never standing still musically, exploring everything from prog-tinged thrash metal, primitive synth-rock, down-home jam rock and on recent releases feel-good symphonic rock.
The Aussie outfit’s remarkable 28th album Alien Metal follows on from 2023’s The Silver Cord — and grew out of last year’s “rave shows,” in which traditional instruments were abandoned, and the band gathered around an expansive modular synthesizer setup they named “Nathan,” while each member made their own manipulations to create a mind-altering whole. What began as an experimental for the band soon became an obsession, inspiring what may arguably be one of the band’s most ambitious albums to date. “It completely rewired my brain,” Gizz’s Stu Mackenzie says, having discovered the possibilities of the Eiurorack synthesizer format on the recommendation of bandmate and self-confessed “techno head of the group” Joey Walker. “I was like, ‘I’m going to forget everything I know about music and relearn it all from scratch.”
The album was far from straightforward to make. Over the course of several years, the band scrapped countless recordings and abandoned entire creative directions while searching for the album’s identity. “We’ve never scrapped so much material as we have for this album,” Mackenzie says. “Entire albums, entire universes that were formulated, created, recorded, deleted and started again.”
The breakthrough finally arrived during a late night, improvisatory jam session that went over an hour. That spontaneous jam became the foundation for the entire record with every track on Alien Metal evolving from the same source performance. The result is a seamless, constantly shifting journey through techno, hardcore, house and jungle influences, filtered through King Gizzard’s unmistakable psychedelic lens. Pulsing rhythms, distorted textures and unexpected twists collide across material that’s at once futuristic and uniquely their own. “It sounds so crunchy, but also beautiful,” says Mackenzie.
“Alien Metal goes really hard, but it also goes to really interesting places,” adds Joey Walker. “And it feels unique – it feels like us, still.”
KGLW’s 28th album will include the previously released “Level 5” and it’s latest single “Kill For The Steel” an futuristic and dystopian, industrial techno-inspired banger that’s both club and festival stage friendly. Featuring machine gun-like staccato beats, tweeter and woofer rumbling low-end and glistening and glitchy synth textures beneath Mackenzie’s heavily vocodered vocal, “Kill For The Steel” is one-part From Here to Eternity and From Here to Eternity . . . And Back-era Giorgio Moroder, one-part Boys Noize-like techno but with muscular and bruising menace.
The JOVM mainstays are arguably one of the most exciting live bands out there right now, and this August will see their annual North American tour. The tour will see the return of their now sold-out Field of Vision Festival, and a four-night run here in NYC that includes three nights at Forest Hills Stadium — August 20, 2026 – August 22, 2026 — and a “Rave Show’ at Under The K Bridge on August 23, 2026. Tour dates are below.
| King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Tour Dates: |
| 08/14-16/26 – Buena Vista, CO @ Field Of Vision II Festival (Sold Out) |
| 08/20/26 – New York, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium (with Die Spitz, DJ Crenshaw) |
| 08/21/26 – New York, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium (with Die Spitz, DJ Crenshaw) |
| 08/22/26 – New York, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium (Rave Show) |
| 08/23/26 – Brooklyn, NY @ Under The K Bridge Park (Rave Show with .VRIL) |
Alien Metal will be released later this summer through the band’s p(doom) records.
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